Improving the safe driving of vehicles is a continued desire, in part, due the increased of the number of vehicles on the road. Despite this desire, the number of vehicle fatalities remains high, due, in part, to one or more unsafe driving practices (e.g., alcohol impaired drivers, young inexperienced drivers, distracted drivers, and drowsy drivers, etc.).
Some existing technical solutions that attempt to improve driving safety are typically narrow in scope of the specific problem being addressed and often require vehicle modification by the mounting of an aftermarket sensor. For example, a breathalyzer may be mounted to the vehicle to prevent the starting of the vehicle's engine unless a measured blood/alcohol level is below a certain limit. Similarly, a sensor may be mounted to the vehicle to detect cell phone usage, where an application installed on the phone may disable certain functions (e.g., texting) of the phone while the vehicle is in motion.
However, these solutions often depend on driver cooperation to work, require vehicle modification, lack robustness to detect a variety of unsafe driving practices, and are limited in the sensor data available to make such decisions.